Many organizations use database systems to organize information. It is not uncommon for an organization to use multiple database systems. For example, a large business may use one system for customer relation management, one system for billing, one system to gather information from a web portal, one system for enterprise resource planning, and one system for customer support. These and other systems are referred to generically as database systems. Because of the multiple systems, there are differences in the information in the different databases even if the information is tied to the same customer company, supplier company, person, product or material. In some cases, the information is not the same because the company has moved, changed name, merged, or been acquired. There may be multiple records in one database or multiple databases that all refer to the same company. In some cases, the multiple records arise because a database record was input with a spelling difference in company name or the company name was entered with a different punctuation or capitalization (i.e. Company Name, Inc. or Company Name Incorporated). It is useful if the database information is consolidated into one list eliminating differences in or multiple copies of information.
One problem that arises in consolidating database information is that it is difficult to achieve the flexibility required in the consolidator of database information. For example, the consolidator takes its input from a number of database systems. Each of these systems has different information and different information structures which may be standard configurations for a given database system product or may be a customized version of a database system. Also, the comparisons required between database systems are different. Because each database system has different information structures, different information processing is required for a given user of the information structures from the different database systems to yield useful consolidator output information. And, the consolidator output for a given user will ideally take a customized form so that the information can be most effectively used. It would be useful if the consolidator could be flexible in its input, processing, and output in consolidating the information from different database systems.